St. Joseph's #35 Erick Langston, left, tries to steal away the ball from Harding's #5 Jamar Gaynor, during boys basketball action at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday January 11, 2013. At right is St. Joseph's #5 Jon Dzurenda. less

St. Joseph's #35 Erick Langston, left, tries to steal away the ball from Harding's #5 Jamar Gaynor, during boys basketball action at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday January 11, 2013. At ... more

St. Joseph opened up some breathing room early in the second quarter, turning a five-point lead into a double-digit advantage on a quick 7-0 run which made it 29-17.

The 3-point shooting of Harding sophomore Reggie Stewart (game-high 22 points) kept the Presidents within arms length, until another St. Joseph 7-0 run -- capped on a 3 from Jake Pelletier -- to finish the half put the Cadets ahead 42-26 and well on their way to a win.

Pelletier and Dzurenda led St. Joseph with 17 points apiece. Quincy McKnight and Erick Langston each added 11.

"They shared the basketball," Cadets coach Chris Watts said. "There were no individuals out there tonight."

In the second half the Cadets' lead slowly grew as they held the Presidents to a single field goal -- a 3 by Stewart -- in the fourth quarter to extend the final margin of victory.

Clemons, an assistant at St. Joseph before taking the Harding job last season, knows the way the Cadets play is eventually how he'd like his team to play. The Presidents (3-5) are only one win away from matching last year's win total, but Clemons says there's still a lot of work left, even if his squad has shown signs of improvement.

"It's been like that for two years, you can't be going in the right direction forever, eventually you have to correct some stuff and be held accountable," Clemons said. "Once we hold ourselves accountable, that's when we'll take the next step. I appreciate everybody saying we're going in the right direction, but you know, Harding's been king of the hill."

St. Joseph now turns its attention to Tuesday night's game at home in Trumbull against Trinity Catholic, the lone remaining undefeated team left in the FCIAC.

"Trinity is a great team," Watts said. "Coach (Mike) Walsh will have them prepared. It's going to be a battle. They probably have the best point guard (Schadrac Casimir) in the state of Connecticut."